On Thursday, February 18th at 6:49 pm in Golden Auditorium at Colgate University, I had just taken my seat for the 7 pm Race and Education Lecture. This talk was called "Notes Toward a Pedagogy of 'This Bridge Called My Back'" and would be given by Professor Cindy Cruz from the Education Department of UC Santa Cruz. The auditorium was packed to the brim with students and faculty from the Ed. Studies Department, Sociology and Anthropology Department, Psychology Department, and others. Luckily I had gotten there early and had a seat in the back row, but there were at least thirty people who had to stand or sit on the floor. It was the most attended lecture I have ever been to and not for the right reasons. One of my Education professors had asked that our class attend the talk, and she was not alone in that request. It seemed that the audience was split twenty-five percent people who wanted to hear Cindy Cruz give her enlightening and important talk, and seventy-five percent students whose professors or coaches had mandated that they go. The result was a level of disrespect that was palpable in the room.

Cindy Cruz gave an amazing lecture in about using a feminist anthology titled "This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color" by Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa. She describes the text as "a primer for the work of building coalition" to fight multiple oppressions. The narratives in this book can be used to fuel discourses that will allow us to create "solidarity across difference."

Cruz gave us insight on the ways in which our education system will continue to perpetuate social injustice, cis-white supremacy, and the degradation of LGBTQ, handicapped, and colored students unless teachers can reflect on these problems at a systemic level and fight for the equal treatment of all learners. Currently, our education system promotes a form of schooling that is inherently competitive, individualistic and defines world-traveling (experiencing other cultures) from the perspective of "the voyeur, the colonizer, or worse, the conquistador." In a pedagogy structured with the values of This Bridge Called My Back, a difference would be seen as a strength. Schools would not have the language of deficiency that makes students of color constantly feel lesser and othered.

In order to make necessary changes possible, we need to be like rugby players, Cruz explained. In rugby, it doesn't matter what your position is, at some point or another you will have the ball and everyone on the team must support you to achieve their goal. When passing the ball laterally, the player to the side of the ball-carrier says "With you" to let them know they are open and ready. Cruz challenged us to think about what it would mean to be with each other in this way and to have these non-hierarchical relationships with people where power and privilege don't affect the way we treat other humans - especially for teachers.

As a student of the Ed. Studies Department and, hopefully, a future educator, I found this talk inspiring. But the five white males sitting in the row in front of me, did not. Right before the lecture started, one of them looked around the room and said, "I don't see her," meaning their professor, "If she doesn't show within twenty minutes, I'm leaving." Then another said, "If this goes longer than forty-five minutes, I'm gonna die." His friend responded, "I think it's supposed to be an hour and fifteen," to which the guy sighed, "I better download some games or something." Then, the fourth male took out his phone, snapped a picture of Dr. Cruz's title slide of the presentation, drew over her first name and replaced it with "Booze" so that it said "Booze Cruz." At this point, I was done. But it didn't stop. Through the entirety of the talk, they were on their phones or simply not looking at Dr. Cruz and certainly not paying attention. About fifteen minutes in, they began whispering and nudging each other's knees. It was classic fifth-grade behavior at the collegiate level, and it was pathetic.

I thought, what is the point of these people coming to this talk? Are they learning anything? Why do we have a Race and Education Lecture Series if not for the exact purpose of getting through to people like this who clearly don't care about the rampant oppression in our education system because they benefit from it. Maybe they're not racists, but they were incredibly disrespectful to an esteemed guest who has accomplished so much, and they definitely aren't going to be "reflecting on race at a systemic level," as Cruz suggested, anytime soon. They probably don't realize it, but their lack of interest in these important issues is evident of greater problems at this university and in America where a mentality of "it doesn't apply to me, I don't care about it," is prevalent. So to those guys sitting in front of me, and to all those like them: Think about your actions on a greater scale; if you're not saying "with you" to those around you, running side by side through this difficult life, ready to help someone in need, then what are you doing? And, on a much smaller scale, if you're forced to go to a lecture, at least have the decency to pay attention. It's possible that you might learn something to actually help fix what's wrong in the world instead of remaining part of the problem.